File-sharing company wins Babson award

Launched in October using cloud computing, Minus already has more than 300,000 users, 1 million uploads and 1 billion hits, according to Xie.

The start-up won Babson’s Student Business of the Year Award, which came with a $5,000 cash prize, last month.

Minus — its name was chosen to emphasize simplicity and minimalism — is a free service, although its founders have a few business models in mind to cover the cost of running it.

The 21-year-old’s Web hosting company

The 21-year-old’s Web hosting company, Cirtex Corp., hosts more than 100,000 domains and generates more than $1 million in annual revenue, according to Xie, who started it with $20 and broke even within a month.

"Cirtex wasn’t a business or a job for me. It was more poking around and learning as you go. Minus was creating something out of nothing. It’s a lot of fun for me."